And that was when Cavanaugh pulled the plug. He quickly told Bergrin to "please finish up" and added "we are going far afield here." Cavanaugh was determined to see, as he had during the trial, that Bergrin's documented whistleblowing be kept out of the proceedings.
Was Cavanaugh directed to keep any mention of Iraq out of the proceedings against Bergrin?
With little left to say Bergrin quickly concluded, allowing Cavanaugh to move to the imposition of sentence. Perhaps sensing that his part in this farce might someday be called into question, Cavanaugh began by all but saying "I'm just a federal judge" and claimed that he "must follow statute" in the imposition of sentence. Despite overseeing a trial that was a mockery of justice, he cited a need for the sentence to "promote respect for the law." Cavanaugh feigned regret as he solemnly announced, "I take no pleasure in imposing sentence, but I have a duty to do so." For an added measure of solemnity he added, "The jury has spoken."
USDJ Dennis Cavanaugh, a reliably pro-government jurist, successfully guided Bergrin's trial to the government's desired result.
As was scripted all along, Bergrin received six life sentences, plus decades more prison time and even a term of supervised release thrown in for good measure. While an extreme sentence, its imposition was in many ways anti-climactic. There was never any doubt that Cavanaugh and his compatriots in the prosecutor's office would seek to dispose of Bergrin once and for all and to as great a degree as possible. The trial was never about the killing of a low level drug dealer in Newark or the federal government's alleged concern over his demise. The sheer numbers of such killings that go unpunished make the idea laughable. Rather, this case was all about retribution and may be the most extreme example yet of the government's ongoing war on whistleblowers. Begrin's conviction and life sentence is not only retributive, but is also intended to have a dissuasive effect upon others contemplating a similar course of action. The war on whistleblowers continues.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
14
10
6
